32: ▓▒░Shadows of the Past░▒▓

▓▒░Shadows of the Past░▒▓

The warm breeze of late afternoon wafted over Felix as he headed towards the meeting point, summer was coming, and the school's start for the Japanese students had already begun for almost 3 months, soon giving the youngsters time to go on vacation. He still hadn't answered Mirio if he could come for a ride with him and his friends at the mall, but the idea suited him; the real problem was to know if he would have time to join them.

Now that it was all over, he had less to do, but his training was still going on, swordsmanship with Mr. Brave, fighting methods with Iwao & Nighteyebeing—since Rumi was still incarcerated, impossible to train with her—and Chiyo for his quirk, with all that he had just enough time to work on skills creation with his new discoveries, including the [Metabolism Hyper-drive].

He talked about it to Recovery Girl and once again worked to find how and why his quirk evolved this way. What was strange for both of them was that this kind of mutation seems to only happen once in someone's life, and it was caused by a stressful event. In a way, it was just "Life" trying to find a way to survive at any cost by pushing itself to its very limit and unlock a new set of abilities.

Here, with Felix, it happened two times: during his reboot, and that was in no way something produced by a stressful event, but was due to something pleasurable, and the second time was what scientists and physicians like Chiyo can call a "real" quirk awakening.

Nothing like this was reported till now; Felix was the first one to experience this. Probably due to his double-quirk factors. Hormones manipulation and RPG-like system aren't power that can really merge together.

If it was really the case, Chiyo hypothesized that this might have something to do with the Quirk singularity, making people's bodies and quirks more powerful and dangerous as the generations passed. As such, Felix would be a rare pre-mutation specimen, someone who could show how the human species might evolve over the next few decades, if not centuries. Being the most plausible hypothesis after their research, they didn't try to investigate further. They were aware that his existence, even if revealed, would be a way to attract scientists and shit from all over the world. Even if it helped to make allies, the interest of less sympathetic people would come along with it.

And he already had enough trouble for now.

"Why did we have to walk? They know you're elderly, but you have to do everything on foot, you could have asked them to-"

"Keep your mouth shut, kiddo!" Chiyo pestered as she frowned. "I decided to walk; this has nothing to do with them. My youthful bones need this from time to time. Speaking about a woman age in the street and in front of passers-by… Hmph, you lack manners."

"Really now." he sighed, restraining himself from commenting on her age, understanding that her husband had to deal with a tsundere back in the day. "So, you know All Might, huh."

"Yes, I healed him a lot when he was younger cause Gran Torino kept trying to destroy him or something. Don't even want to talk about the teaching of this old fool; he almost broke his back one time." Recovery Girl jabbered before looking at a bunch of people seemingly waiting for something. "The number one hero of this country is way more than a hero; in a way, he also creates a lot of oppression on the people who can't control themselves, turning them sometimes into villains. He knows it and hopes to change this, but he said back then that he didn't have the power to do that because he lacked something. So, I think that where and why you're part of all this. This Symbol of Peace can't lie, so it will be easy for you to know things he tries to hide."

"This dude sounds like a pack-a-punch of secrets-"

"Excuse me, sir!" intervened a highly energetic voice.

"Yes?"

"Sorry for the inconvenience. I was just hoping to borrow a few minutes of your time." explained the blue-skinned lady with light pink hair, which stopped at shoulder height; she was coming from the group of person Chiyo saw a few seconds ago; she immediately recognized them.

"I don't have time for this, plus I don't even know why you're trying to-."

"Can you tell me about what the police told you when you were at the police station the last week? The "body snatcher" like people called Haruo Utsushimi was in a way 'close' to you, right? At least a bit. Right? Can we have more information about this? And everyone knows about his daughter. So what about her? Hm? We managed to know that she got kicked out of her high school, but we don't have any more information either." the reporter asked with an unbearable high-pitched tone like a way too curious child.

"The police only asked me if I know anything about the Utsushimi family. The only thing I know about this man is that he tried to make me into one of his patients, but the hero came in time." Felix explained, knowing that saying a partial truth was the best way to push away a journalist. Moreover, they surely know a bit about him; these people are good for gathering data and even espionage.

"One of his patients!? Fairly interesting you are because he only targeted people with strange quirk. But that's not all, right? Be clearer please, Mist-"

"Today's youth, tsk! This young man accompanies me to the nearest police station; I had my purse stolen, try to be a little tactful! Now off you go! Mosquitoes!"

After making them leave, Chiyo and Felix looked at each other while continuing to walk; it was better to just use some tricks with this woman they just encountered; she's the executive director of Shoowaysha Publishing. Felix saw her on the TV a few times—and was also explaining why Mirko got sent to "jail" after the havoc she created when he was still inside the Utsushimi house.

This woman was someone renowned and influential; like all other people affiliated with this kind of business, she must have had a ton of allies and money; with that comes fame, and usually comes with acts and activities hidden from the public. No one is entirely free of shady contracts signed under the table, especially in the publishing and journalism industries. And even if none of them had anything to be ashamed of, Felix always used this quote as an example: "If you give me six lines written by the hand of the most honest of men, I will find something in them which will hang him."

—I shouldn't get too carried away, though. Even if most media is "masterminded" by some smartass dickwads who only want to drive their kids to be like them and giving them jobs that pay $3000 while they literally do nothing just because they are daddy's boys and girls instead of hiring people with degrees and genuine ambitions… This is the main reason why degrees aren't worth a damn… Jesus… I need to calm down; my testosterone is kicking in way too much since I did it with Camie…

During his soliloquy, he and Chiyo had already moved closer to the police station, but Felix was sure he was still being followed by reporters or paparazzi working for this woman. If she knew Felix was related to Haruo, that at least meant she had seen him leaving the police station the last time, and yet he had seen no one when Tsukauchi had driven him home. With all the existing quirks, a human camera could exist, and it would be a real pain in the ass for politicians or celebrities.

However, having an interview with her would be the best way to make himself known; as a survivor of one of the worst Japanese medical scandals and as a scientist himself, he could perhaps build a reputation on it and maybe even establish a partnership with her. Information is valuable, as is a reputation.

And then, to tell the truth, this woman, despite her unpleasant voice due to her enthusiasm, had everything right where it needed to be if you know what I mean.

Felix sighed, aware that his own mind was wandering toward ideas he didn't need to ponder about at the time.

—Well, I don't know how it is in Japan, but the day I have the authority to investigate this and fix it, I'll do so in spades.

Chiyo yelled at him when he saw that he had slowed down and accompanied him to the meeting. It was a simple local police station, a place small, narrow, and hidden from view because of its simplistic and unadorned appearance like most police stations in Japan. At first sight, nobody would have said that it was one, and that's why they had chosen this place to meet.

The policemen on the spot pretended to fill in a report for a stolen bag and left room for Felix and Recovery Girl to enter one of the only two offices present here.

Surprisingly, the place was larger than it seemed, with room for two sofas on each side, a coffee table, and a vending machine set in the corner. Sitting on one of the sofas is Nighteye chatting with the tall and muscular All Might, who was almost bending the furniture under his weight. On the opposite sofa sat Tsukauchi, who Chiyo and Felix were about to join.

They all greeted each other with a handshake before discussing everyday life, but judging the former inmate's circumstances, he finally sighed and spilled the beans.

"Sorry to cut you off, but I'm sure we're not here to enjoy a tea party," he began after placing the cookies on the table. "By the way, All Might, I don't want to be a bother, but how did you get into the place? Everything is narrow here; with your build going through one door would be impossible. Can you change your shape or something? Like Muscular?"

"...Looking smarter than you look, Fortier-shonen." admitted the symbol of peace. "Since I'm here to ask for your help and you somehow figured out, keeping this a secret wouldn't be prolific. I just want you to keep it a secret."

"You're sure about this, Toshinori?" asked Tsukauchi after seeing steam coming from the hero body.

"It's not by lying or hiding things that we make allies," he responded, his clothes adjusting to his usual skeletal self. "Besides, my time as a hero is running out; this secret will eventually become known to most. I have no delusions."

"You're just acting like this old Gran Torino now. He rubbed off on you, kid." sighed Chiyo by eating another cookie. "Look at you now, believing an ex-convict. When you were a youngster, never you would have done that."

"My eyes witnessed too many different things for me to remain clear as glass. My past naivety has faded with time."

No one wanted to continue talking, all trying to understand the atmosphere in the room. Tsukauchi took out a document, and All Might did the same; it contained different small files, with names and classifications of several kinds. According to their research, he informed Felix that the 3 Ladies were named so because of a traitor named Lady Nagant.

Felix had heard of her thanks to Mt. Lady just once. Apparently, this Nagant girl was the main reason the hero name of Yu was Mt. Lady and not Mt. Fuji or something like that. This former heroin was seen as a symbol of liberation and rebellion for those who knew of her existence and "treachery." And the only ones knowing about that seemed to be the people working with the Ladies.

Nevertheless, they didn't know if this two-colored hair woman was in prison or still at large. For some reason, the HPSC didn't talk about her at all anymore, even in the media, as if this former heroin had simply disappeared overnight and had never been part of this world. Felix understood very well what this meant and what it implied, but talking about it all the while was not the right call.

The ex-con didn't understand precisely where they were going with this, but he decided to ignore all these facts and started to go step by step, asking dumb questions to have real answers.

"You're the guy I saw with Nighteye during my fight with Mirko two months ago, right? With that appearance of yours, nobody can guess that you're the Symbol of Peace, that's for sure."

"Haha, yes, indeed. Glad you remembered that form of me. And it's because you beat Mirko, an MMA champion, Muscular, and managed to stir up Nighteye's interest that I'm willing to trust you. Your insight about hero society is precious; even if I don't know if you're fully reformed, it might help us change what as to be to change."

Felix understood quickly during the conversation that All Might and his allies, just as he had understood before with Chiyo, were sympathetic despite his past, something rare in this society. Most people treat ex-prisoners as scum, as outcasts.

However, they were only half-free pawns, looking for freedom hidden there, somewhere, while the one given to the people was only a poor residue of truth deposited on a filament of liberty, even if it was enough for most people, what goes on behind the scenes isn't fair, and even if everyone here agreed, each hero, policeman, was only a cogwheel making the machine work. That said, Felix was a kind of tool, a wrench, and if the cogwheels, gears, and bolts stop being tightened and maintained, the machine will eventually jam.

Apparently, not many people knew All Might's true identity, so Felix realized that being someone he could trust was the best way to make good allies. Besides, even if he didn't particularly like this hero, he respected what he stood for, even if it was just a character trying to balance society. Nothing more than a kind of acting.

"Your injury, the one you told me about, I can actually heal it."

"What…?" asked Toshinori by opening his eyes wide. "I don't think so; even Recovery Girl can't help me with it. This is not a mere scar."

"I think he can," Chiyo answered. "With his quirk, the kid has a whole range of skills. It would take time, but it could reproduce the organ's cells that were damaged in you. In short, manipulating the hormones in someone's body also allows controlling the whole metabolism: endocrine, paracrine, intracrine, and autocrine. So, basically, he can create mixtures of hormones in one single hormone, capable of interacting automatically with glands, between cells, and within cells. If he succeeds, forcing your body to reproduce fetal-like organ 'formations' might be achievable."

"So, you're telling me that he could heal anything…?"

"Indeed."

"No wonder why AFO targetted him that day. With his quirk, he could simply restore his own face flawlessly. That said, Recovery Girl, could you please give me an overview of the discoveries you made with Fortier-shonen? Something simple because I couldn't grasp your scientific gibberish."

"I'm not here to popularize science… Geez. It will be a bit long to list the whole bunch of skills Felix could develop in the future, but here we go. Immune system manipulation, kick-starting perfect new organs thanks to stem-cells, in a way, it could become kinda immortal. Emotion manipulation, activate or deactivate genes, hunger manipulation, addiction manipulation, transform sterile people into fertile ones, increasing someone's height…" she paused before taking a sip of her tea. "We also think that since he can use new stem-cells, he can make blind people see, and deaf people hear, can cure cancers, makes people still growing like teenager way stronger, more resistant and increases their body attributes. And copy quirk, of course, but only by stealing hormone and creating new packs of glands."

"Well…"

"Is that all? Or do you have other things to amaze us?" asked Nighteye by scratching his head.

"To be honest, this is what we discovered so far, but he can also do the opposite, like creating cancer by wrong cell dividing, creating stress and fatigue, increasing pain, etc. This way, he could also help obese people lose weight in no time, 'cure' a depressed person, etc. We also search about the fact that he can trigger the awakening of a quirk faster, but we haven't any clues about that right now."

"Hearing this, I can help but think that Mr. Fortier could actually solve the Japanese birth rate issue on his own," muttered Tsukauchi.

"I'm not sure how to interpret your phrasing." sneered Felix with a grin before switching his attention toward the main reason he was here. "Now, if I can help you understand your own quirk, All Might, I would gladly do it. My scientific mind can't say no to investigate the quirk of someone like you."

"Well, I want to know more about this myself; it could be an important factor for everyone if we want to thwart AFO plans. So, if you want to try right now, I won't stop you, but I must warn you nonetheless. This is a dangerous power, your body could actually… not explode since you're muscled enough, but you could feel high pain, fatigue, muscle stress, nausea, migraine… and other things."

"Others things?"1

"Nothing, I'm just worried about someone copying my quirk… I know you're just borrowing hormones and that all quirks are encoded in the DNA, but I can't help but think about how something like that would influence your own DNA."

"No risk, no exciting results, isn't it?"

"I guess so…" sighed All Might by scratching his chin, visibly thinking of another risk that he could have forgotten. "Tell me if you feel any strange effect while the hormones are mixing with your blood."

"Roger."

Touching the back of All Might's head, Chiyo stood beside him to check if her student was doing it the right way. After correcting the direction of his hand, Recovery Girl took a step back and gave him the green light.

The former inmate could feel from his fingertips as electricity gradually warmed his hand, something he never felt with any other patient. After just a few seconds of trying to extract the super-hormones from the Symbol of Peace, some sort of lightning bolts shot out of his fingers before hitting the ceiling, touching the light bulb, and making it explode. This didn't only blow up the fuse of the police station's circuit breaker but turned off the whole neighborhood's power circuits; all at once, Felix felt like an overload of kinetic energy inside him, as if his body was going to burst like a balloon any second, it was as if the super-hormones steadfastly refused to let his body do anything with them. Still, his metabolism somehow managed to force them to interact, like a war on a microscopic scale.

That said, he was sure of one thing, at that very moment, he couldn't even use his own quirk—as a precaution, Felix had activated his new ability: [Metabolism Hyperdrive.], gladly His body, his quirk, his mind, everything was in freewheel, so much so that he begins to see hazily. He tried almost in vain to focus on his system as everything around him became cloudy while his body no longer reacted to his thoughts.

[▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲]

[►Metabolism Hyperdrive.◄]

[▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲]

[Super-Hormones Modifier — R"µb/t — ▓▓■░▒^p'ç▲░ù$= .]

[Exceeding Body's Capacities: 11337%.]

[Stored Hormones & Pheromones: 248%.]

[▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲]

—What the- Shit... These numbers shouldn't even be... attainable…

These were the last thoughts of a still conscious Felix before everything around him turned black as if a thick smoke from a coal-fired reactor was coming out of the ground all around him. He no longer felt any pain or worry; here, everything was calm, as in a meaningless dream.

His body was partially covered by a strange haze that prevented him from moving around at ease. His mouth was also partially covered with it, but he articulated some words without much trouble. He got up and started to walk around the sanctuary without really knowing where he was going. He almost didn't remember what he had done to get there. While he was walking on this strange ground made of cobblestone and brick, small noises behind him made him turn around, but he could not detect the source.

Two eyes were staring at him. He saw them only after he turned around and was startled; however, a figure emerged slightly behind the thick black smoke moving towards him carefully.

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